Outlandish means extremely unusual, bizarre, or strange in a way that seems almost unbelievable. When something is outlandish, it's so far outside the ordinary that it catches everyone's attention, and not always in a good way.

If your friend showed up to school wearing a costume made entirely of aluminum foil and Christmas lights, that would be an outlandish outfit. An outlandish excuse is one that's so far-fetched nobody believes it: “I'm sorry I'm late, but a family of raccoons stole my bicycle.” An outlandish story might involve claims that sound impossible or wildly exaggerated.

The word carries a sense of excess: it describes something so unusual that it seems over the top. An architect might propose an outlandish design for a building shaped like a giant shoe, or a chef might create an outlandish dish combining pickle ice cream with hot sauce and gummy bears.

Sometimes people use outlandish ideas on purpose to get attention or make people laugh. Other times, what seems outlandish to one group might seem normal to another. A hundred years ago, the idea of everyone carrying tiny computers in their pockets would have seemed outlandish.